Discussions

Where is the best place to purchase a sewing machine? Also what are some reasonably priced brands/user friendly brands!?

Brandon Sewing Center. Definitely the place to purchase a machine.  
 
What will you be sewing? That often makes a difference as to the 'best' brand for you. The owner of Brandon Sewing Center has a lot of experience, and a lot of different price tags as well. I have a Husqvarna, and do a lot of quilting. I absolutely love it.

Doing some basic sewing or just learning go to Walmart and get a singer or brother. You can get one under $200. I do lots of sewing and that's where I buy mine from.

I second Brandon Sewing Centre. I bought a used machine there awhile back for about $140? dollars (I don't remember exactly how much) and it works wonderfully and is a better quality machine than you would buy at WalMart, it doesn't have as many plastic parts but metal, etc. It was serviced and runs perfectly like new. He's very helpful, and the other customers are super helpful too, LOL!  
 
edit: mine was a Singer, made in the early 80s. Not a sexy looking machine, but by far the best machine I've ever used  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2016-01-24 20:45:07

if you are just starting. Some of the older Singers and Brother machines are still in great working order and the cost is usually reasonable. If you buy used ask the seller to have it tuned before you buy it, or to give you a demo. Also important to have the book that it came with so you can have a reference guide. I have purchased 2 excellent used machines.

As a long time seamstress/tailor, I always favored Singer....that is until a few years ago when I needed to buy a new machine. Singer has changed their manufacturer and are certainly not what they used to be. The attachments I had for Singer brand do not fit the "new" Singer models. One of the biggest changes I found was the bobbins. They are special bobbins that you can't just buy anywhere. They have to be ordered specifically now where the old machines I could buy the generic brand of bobbins. So, because of the mechanics of the machine itself and the inability to use general attachments, I stayed away from Singer.  
 
My current machine is a Kenmore. It is a basic machine that cost me around $200.00. I do tons of sewing and it is great. I can also use my "vintage" Singer attachments with it(ruffler, buttonholer, bias tape maker etc.) and can use generic bobbins.